(Guest blogged by Howie Klein)

Last night Morrissey was David Letterman's guest on The Late Show. Morrissey's been touring behind his latest solo release, Ringleader of the Tormentors, but the LNMC decided to go way back and dig up a Smiths fave from Morrissey's early days as a galvanizing singer, songwriter and performer.

UPDATE: Looks like the video Howie had was removed, so enjoy this Smiths tune instead...

So a little contest tonight for Morrissey's legion of Crooks & Liars fans? Half a dozen simple questions about his songs. Just send the answers to and win something special to listen to that is somewhat Morrissey-related that can't be purchased in a store (a surprise).

1- What happens if a doubledecker bus crashes into us?

2- What is meat?

3- In what song does Moz claim to be the sun and the earth along with a need to be loved "just like anybody else does?"

4- Not having a stitch to wear keeps Morrissey from what?

5- Which Morrissey video has visual cues to Lord Byron, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, James Dean and "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out?" 6- Who was Hector?

And, by the way, congratulations to Craig Burney for winning the Armageddon Dildos contest last week

pic from Peter Case

(Guest blogged by Howie Klein)

Tonight's LNMC song is a Crooks & Liars exclusive, a brand new song, not even mastered yet, by Peter Case. It will be released on his next album later in the year. This song, "Underneath The Stars" was written after visits to a local park in Santa Monica. The song just tells the story of what was happening there. It's about the plight of "discarded people," older homeless people, not drug addicts or alcoholics, but just people who've gone over the edge of life for various other reasons.

Download | play MP4

Peter told us that he's felt concerned about the lives of homeless people after he himself lived without a home in San Francisco for a couple of years in the early 70s. "I climbed out of it, because I was young and strong. Some can't, due to age and other factors." The other voice on the song is Carlos Guitarlos, an incredibly talented musician and a former homeless person who gained some fame after playing with Tom Waits in Swordfishtrombones. This is one of my favorite Peter Case songs in years.

Bertis Downs is an old friend of mine; he's also R.E.M.'s manager and a Crooks and Liars LNMC fan. He sent me a cool, FUN video last week. The backstory is here. And the contest is for an autographed copy of Peter Clothier's fantastic new book, The Real Bush Diaries. I'll give 3 books away for the best list of R.E.M. covers-- in other words, your favorite R.E.M. songs performed by other artists. Entries to downwithtyranny@aol.com

(guest blogged by Howie)

(guest blogged by Howie Klein. He's been really doing a dynamite job on the LNMC.)

Today Talla 2XLC is one of the biggest international djs in the world. When I first met him in a small town near Frankfurt he was running an independent industrial music label, playing music at a dance club under a runway at the Frankfurt Airport-- I once spent a New Years Eve there-- and playing in a hard core electro band called BiGod 20 these guys! Listen to the first single we released by the band and then enter the Crooks & Liars Tuesday Night Industrial Contest. Just tell us what your favorite 5 industrial songs of all times are (and why). The best list wins a 4-DVD set of PUNKY BREWSTER (SEASON THREE)-- 22 episodes. Send your entry to downwithtyranny@aol.com/

Steve Earle has been a longtime Crooks & Liars fave and with Bush in the Middle East, who could resist the title track from his 2002 masterpiece, Jerusalem? Steve has been involved with socially conscious music since he was a teenager to young to play in bars, writing songs against aggression in Vietnam and against the death penalty. Despite his strong political messages, he's won two Grammy awards and believe me-- I've been on the committees that help pick the nominees-- strong political writing does not help songwriters. You can only imagine what went on when "John Walker's Blues" was discussed.

Tonight's song is a Friday night special by AC/DC-- inspired by a photo someone sent me. You can probably figure out which was the inspiring picture.

Great responses to our "Reasons to Believe" contest. Marc K in San Francisco won the Lefty Frizzell CD with this poem:

Who's the Biggest Liar?
It depends what "biggest" means.

Continue reading »

So I asked myself, driftglass, how do you feel when you cruise the cornucopial (Cornucopriapistic? Cornucopulatory? Because those just doesn't sound quite right.) plenty that the good people at Crooks and Liars lay out every single day?

Well...like I'm a guest at the biggest, throbbin'est party on the block. Something classy. With beverages laid out. Candy. Spices. Maybe tricolored pastas even.

And, lil' blogger, is there perhaps some kind of song that would capture that sensibility? Turns out, hey, there is!

Ween -- "(The Best Time At) Your Party"

Guest blogged by Driftglass [Howie Klein is on vacation].

Happy Halloween from everyone at Crooks and Liars and our Late Night Music Club. Roky Erickson is touring now, not an everyday occurrence. Try to see him live if you can; he is something else! He used to be leader of Austin's 13th Floor Elevators (the Texas Grateful Dead) but I first met him when he recorded an album, The Evil One released by my label in San Francisco. "Don't Shake Me Lucifer" is one of my favorite songs he ever wrote and a real rocked out tune for any night:

You have a favorite Halloween song?

-by special guest Ken Furie, a former opera critic for the NY Times

Can you imagine a ruler capable of feeling guilt for his actions?

[7:55] "With my family I hoped to find solace. For my daughter I prepared a splendid wedding feast-- for my tsarevna, my Pure Little Dove. [7:15] Like a storm, death carries off the bridegroom." --Tsar Boris, soliloquizing in the imperial apartments of the Kremlin in Act II of Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov

I'm inclined to think of Russian history and politics as more of a "heightened" version of ours rather than a thing apart. Living with Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov over a lifetime, I find myself more and more riveted by this moment in the tsar's Act II reflections when we see that he seems to believe his family's recent catastrophe--the sudden death of his beloved daughter Xenia's fiance--was somehow caused by the heavy burden of his own guilt. Imagine that: a ruler with a working conscience, actually capable of feeling guilt for his actions.

(You'll find more video clips along with lots more blather in "Was Mussorgsky just romancing, suggesting that put-upon Russian peasants expected higher-quality lies (and liars) from their authoritarian rulers?" on Down With Tyranny

(guest blogged by Howie Klein)

I love this Offspring song so much. Totally forget the video. Just keep the song in mind and write a treatment whose story line could make a Crooks & Liars or Down With Tyranny post. I'm looking for the kind of passion you feel in the beat.

What's in it for you? Glad you asked. SONY just sent us a beautiful box set (3 discs) celebrating the 30th Anniversary of Bruce Springsteen's BORN TO RUN. The killer treatment wins the box set. What are we lookin' for? PASSION. Send your short essay to downwithtyranny@aol.com